Tiger Woods didn't win the Disney Tournament last weekend. And there have been eight other occasions this year when he has been beaten on the USPGA Tour. But a measure of his consistency is that the game's top player has managed to pocket 68.4 per cent of all prize money available to him.
Despite four rounds in the 60s, he was forced to settle for third place on Sunday behind a resurgent Duffy Waldorf, who shot a sparkling final round of 62 to finish a stroke clear of left-hander Steve Flesch. "It was one of those days where I didn't have very much," said Woods, who was seriously at odds with the blade. "But I hung in there and gave myself a chance."
The outcome meant that out of 18 official tournament appearances in the US this year, Woods has won nine times, been three times runner-up and once third.
In those 18 events, the cumulative first-place prize money was $12,415,000, ranging from $1 million for the Andersen Consulting Matchplay and NEC Invitational, down to $486,000 for the Buick Open at Warwick Hills on August 10th to 13th. And out of that cash, Woods has come away with $8,490,821.
We can hardly be surprised at rewards such as these for a player who happens to be capable of driving the ball an average of 296.9 yards. Perhaps more importantly, it is the pay-off for an average of 28.8 putts per tournament round, especially after hitting 75.9 per cent of greens in regulation.
It may also be interesting to note that Woods, who has now amassed official career earnings of $19,805,950, faces into this week's Tour Championship at East Lake with a stroke-average of 67.68, having made 57 consecutive cuts. And having played 4,631 strokes on the US Tour so far this season, he earned $1,833 every time he struck a golf ball in competition.
But as Keith Nolan has discovered, life is very different towards the bottom end of the money list. From 22 USPGA Tour appearances this year, the Bray golfer has earned an extremely modest $24,471 to be in 226th position behind Woods. Nolan, who will be 27 tomorrow, produced his best performance of the season in the John Deere Classic at Deere Run, Illinois, in July when he shot a 67 in the second round on the way to a share of 44th place. He now faces a return to the US Tour School in which he finished an admirable 21st last year.
Meanwhile, the field for this week's end-of-season Tour Championship which starts at East Lake on Thursday, is: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Hal Sutton, Jesper Parnevik, David Duval, Davis Love, Stewart Cink, Vijay Singh, Tom Lehman, Jim Furyk, Kirk Triplett, Justin Leonard, Loren Roberts, Steve Flesch, David Toms, Robert Allenby, Notah Begay, Chris DiMarco, Scott Verplank, Johnn Huston, Mark Calcavecchia, Paul Azinger, Franklin Langham, Mike Weir, Carlos Franco, Stuart Appleby, Nick Price, Bob May, Chris Perry.
